SALYERSVILLE, Ky. — A Magoffin County man who was already heading to jail made matters worse for himself by trying to convince the arresting officer to botch the case.

A sheriff’s deputy pulled over a car for having a loud muffler Monday night, and when he got to the window, he noticed that two of the occupants were Mitchell Shepherd, 35, and a woman who has an emergency protective order against him.

The officer noted in his report that he has arrested Shepherd for the same violation involving the same woman on multiple occasions.

After the deputy placed him in the jailer’s custody, he said that Shepherd came up to his car window and begged him not to show up for court so the case would be dismissed. That earned Shepherd a felony charge of witness tampering, in addition to the misdemeanor charge of violating an EPO.

He was booked in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center, in Paintsville.